American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Capsule History

PuzzleSocial doubled the prize pool to $15,000. Eric Berlin conducted a giant Escape Room on Friday night, in which two-person teams raced to solve a series of word puzzles to escape from the Stamford Marriott ballroom. On Saturday night Patrick Creadon presented a film tribute to the late Merl Reagle, including never-before-seen outtakes from "Wordplay." Jeff Walters told the touching story of a crossword that Merl made specially for his cancer-stricken wife and published as a surprise for her in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The audience competed on puzzles from "Idiotest," the popular Game Show Network program. On Sunday Merl's wife, Marie Haley, presented the first "MEmoRiaL" (=Merl Memorial) award for lifetime achievement in crossword construction to Maura Jacobson, which her husband, Jerry, accepted on Maura's behalf. Dr. Fill finished in 41st place. In the "A" division playoffs, Howard Barkin upset six-time champion Dan Feyer to take home the $7,000 grand prize.

Capsule history of all previous years.

Pictures from the Tournament

• Don Christensen: Friday Night | Saturday Puzzles 1-6 | Saturday Night Games | Sunday Morning - Puzzle 7 | Judge's Room | Talent Show and MEmoRiaL Award | Playoffs | Don's Picks
• Nancy Shack: 2016 Photo Album

Social Media

Facebook: American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Attendees

Twitter: #ACPT | #ACPT2016

Blogs

• Deb Amlen - Wordplay/The Crossword Blog for the New York Times
• Glenn Dallas - ACPT Wrap-up!
• Marie desJardins - ACPT16 Recap
• Ben Zimmer - A Big Upset in the Competitive Crossword World

Soundcloud: David Rind - Crosswords: Scandal & Competition

YouTube

• From Nancy Shack:
  • 2016 Finals
  • The complete Crossworders Got Talent show. It's all great fun but if you don't watch anything else, scroll to the last performance by Pete Muller. It's an inside joke but it's laugh out loud funny.
  • MEmoRiAL Award for Lifetime Achievement in Crossword Construction
  • Merl Reagle's memorial in Tampa, Sept 2015

In the News

• Puzzling it out with national crossword champion Howard Barkin Paul C. Grzella, MyCentralJersey.com [April 24, 2016]
• Oldest and largest crossword tournament takes place in Stamford Matt Scott, Fox 61 News [April 9, 2016]
• Hillsborough Man Wins American Crossword Puzzle Tournament  , The Hillsborough Beacon [April 4, 2016]
• Puzzle Fans From Westport Compete In Annual Crossword Tournament Jay Polansky, Westport Daily Voice [April 4, 2016]
• Crossword Fans Prepare To Puzzle Out New Challenges At Stamford Tourney Jay Polansky, Westport Daily Voice [March 28, 2016]

Solving Perfection

The following 67 contestants solved all 7 puzzles with no mistakes.

Howard Barkin, Stephen Benoit, Anish Bhimani, Evan Birnholz, Cliff Chang, David Cole, Judy Cole, Kathie Conarck, Paul Coulter, Jon Delfin, Larry Edelstein, Alex Egervary, Sam Ezersky, Steve Feldman, Dan Felsenheld, Daniel Ferleger, Dan Feyer, Amy Goldstein, Peter Gordon, Craig Harman, Francis Heaney, Patricia Heath, Susan Hoffman, Matt Jones, Richard Kalustian, Jason Keller, Robert Kern, Louis Lana, Jesse Lansner, Sandy Lawrence, Eric LeVasseur, Jack Martin, Marc Maximov, Phoebe McBee, Michael Megargee, Daniel Okrent, Ron Osher, Jan O'Sullivan, Joon Pahk, Doug Peterson, David Plotkin, Chris Popp, Christine Quinones, Arnold Reich, John Reid, Ellen Ripstein, Dawn Ross, Jerry Rubinow, Lisa Rubinow, Al Sanders, Rocky Schwarz, Miriam Sicherman, Neil Singer, Anita Spielman, Daniel Stacey, Tom Strait, Roberta Strauss, Alexia Tate, Alex Thurman, Steve Tice, Mike Torch, Seth Tribble, Melissa Tsai, Jennifer Turney, Finn Vigeland, John Wilson, Stella Zawistowski.

Constructors

Learn more about this year's Puzzlemakers.

Officials — 2016

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